


Finders Keepers

by Indehed



Series: Snuggle 'verse [8]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-24
Updated: 2013-06-24
Packaged: 2017-12-16 01:26:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/856203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indehed/pseuds/Indehed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On their wedding day, Steve thinks back to when they first met.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finders Keepers

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Polski available: [Kto znajduje, ten zatrzymuje](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7396549) by [MobyDick](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MobyDick/pseuds/MobyDick)



> No one expects the Spanish Inquisition. Shut up.  
> Thanks again to Paulette for the beta.

Steve always thought his heart was on his sleeve when it came to Danny, but through their entire lives, Danny never seemed to take that last leap and assume Steve was interested in him in a decidedly romantic way. Well, not just romantic, but a down and dirty way as well that included stripping Danny naked and having his wicked way with him. Because he wanted all of Danny and he wanted to see, hear and feel Danny in ways no one else could. 

Okay, fine, so as kids it wasn't about that. When they were young, Steve just knew that he liked Danny so much that he wanted to keep him. And playground rules applied as far as he was concerned. So… finders keepers.

It was an early sign of his territorial behavior. Of his possessive streak. These could be hindrances but they'd stood him in good stead as a SEAL, as a leader. His thoughts were on the mission, on it being a success, but it was also about the team around him, on them coming through it in one piece.

As a child, it more than likely manifested itself as a stubbornness. Perhaps the odd tantrum was thrown when he was a toddler, a huffiness as a child, pigheadedness as a pre-teen and arrogance as a teenager. That was just in general, in his everyday life; whether that be over the toy he wanted to play with, the homework he didn't want to do, the food he didn't want to eat, the bedtime he didn't want to adhere to, or the unfairness of being grounded.

Danny, though. Danny was another story altogether. He sparked something in Steve that fell somewhat in-between all these emotions in a way he couldn't explain. Because Danny frustrated him, but made him incredibly happy. Sometimes Danny did something he didn't like; sometimes he did something he loved. Sometimes Danny inspired him; sometimes he locked him in place. In the end, he was everything.

Being blond in Hawaii isn't rare, of course it isn't. But it's not exactly 'native'. Technically, Steve isn't either, but he was born there and understood aspects of the culture that could surprise people. Seeing someone with a shock of blond hair stumble into school on that first day, let go of his mom's hand and run to play with the toy fire engine was a sight that little Stevie was fixed onto. 

He remembered that he was holding a police car in his hand and had spent his first five minutes in the classroom running the wheels of the car over every flat surface he could find as part of his exploration of his new surroundings. He'd made his way over to the blond, all the time, dragging the toy car over desks and walls until he came upon where the little boy was sitting on the floor examining the components of the fire truck.

"Hi," he'd said.

A head had shot up and big blue eyes had looked at him openly. "Hi," had been the response.

Steve had grinned so wide his smile could have powered a whole city, and he'd plonked himself down next to the blond and proceeded to make friends. 

He'd found Danny that day, and he was going to keep him. 

Over the years that followed, he'd made it a point of keeping hold of Danny in some form. When they were still small enough and had sleepovers, they'd shared the same bed and Steve had cuddled to Danny like he was his own teddy bear. Even when they'd started using sleeping bags, he'd still gravitated towards Danny. 

They played together, did homework together, if one got sick the other wasn't far behind and everyone just referred to them as 'Steve and Danny'. It tripped off the tongue easily. They were a pair. He liked Danny more than he liked anyone else and had since that first day, but why he'd found Danny so appealing was a mystery. Three year old Steve had never fully given him an answer beyond seeing a mess of blond hair and it drawing his attention.

He wasn't sure if he liked blonds because of Danny or he liked Danny because he liked blonds. His favorite TV show characters were the blonds and yes, that included Miss Piggy. There was one blonde he wasn't so keen on though. Her name was Louise and she'd moved to Hawaii when they were in the 5th Grade. She was blonde, from the mainland and had somehow decided that she wanted to be friends with Danny because she thought they'd have things in common. 

Adult Steve knew this wasn't a crime, but ten year old Steve got a bee in his bonnet pretty quickly about someone invading his turf. He made a point of pulling Danny away from where she was talking to him only for Danny to hit him on the shoulder and tell him off for being rude. Or he'd sidle up and throw an arm around Danny and shoot her a withering look that was meant to signify one thing: he's my best friend, hands off. 

Because he was the one who'd found Danny first, and he was going to keep him.

If plans were to be made, Steve would be there if Danny was and vice versa. By the time they were sixteen they were frequently found on the beach on a Saturday morning, usually in a crowd of friends from school. Danny didn't like to surf so he'd be guarding everyone's things while they were in the water. 

If Steve wiped out it could sometimes be attributed to a lack of concentration if his eyes drifted back to shore, where Danny would be sitting on his towel in just a pair of board shorts and Steve's sunglasses and looking all kinds of hot. 

Steve was good on a board, but he was never destined to be great because he never spent as much time surfing as the other kids. Usually, he'd give up first because back on shore there was a danger of someone spotting the hot blond boy and trying to talk to him. 

Steve always put a stop to it by joining him again. Once he'd worked out his own sneaky way of getting Danny to cuddle with him on their towels, he'd been smugly satisfied that they'd be left alone to doze in the sun. It was one of his favorite things to do: sun, sand, surf, the noises of the waves and people splashing and having fun, while Danny lay beside him, an arm thrown over Steve's chest while Steve held Danny's shoulders, pulling him close. 

And Steve wished he was brave enough to make more of a move, to make his teenage intentions clearer. But he sucked at the final step. He sucked at asking for what he wanted beyond the simple. And he never wanted to risk Danny not wanting the same thing. 

Maybe they were both dumb, because they certainly endured enough mocking from the rougher crowd at school, who thought themselves cool because they'd shout homophobic crap about the two of them. Neither had risen to the bait since the time they both got hurt defending themselves.

And if Steve took it upon himself to clutch Danny closer when he felt threatened, then so be it. 

Because he'd found Danny years before, and he was going to keep him, no matter what people thought. 

But he couldn't keep him forever, and he'd hated his father for years because of the forced separation after his mother 'died'. His father hadn't been happy about him keeping in contact with friends from home but there was no way he was going cold turkey where Danny was concerned. 

But life got in the way and despite how fiercely he'd loved Danny, he was well aware that both of them were busy and Steve's mind had taken a new direction. He was determined and hard-headed and he had another dream of joining the Navy. Once there, he'd focused so much that Danny had drifted from him. It had never been intentional, but they'd lost contact and he just didn't want to bother Danny if he'd moved on with his life. 

He contented himself with lulling himself to sleep thinking about good times, and wondering what they might have been up to now if things hadn't changed so dramatically. Would Danny have stayed in Hawaii rather than going back to Jersey? What would they have become? Would he have sucked up the courage to ask Danny, and would he have returned the feelings?

He'd always been a practical man, very routed in reality and yet a part of him still had a superstitious side. After all, he was born and raised in Hawaii and they had a lot of legends and folklore that was respected more deeply than other places. So a part of Steve had to wonder if his meeting Danny again in Hawaii right when he needed him the most, was it coincidence or had he sent some sort of plea out to the cosmos and had it been answered?

Years of 'what ifs' swirling in his brain, or going to sleep to the idea of him and Danny being in the same zip code again, of getting what he ultimately wanted had been answered and now here they were.

Steve had risked it after years of telling himself he would if he got the chance. He'd brought up the past, added a question and Danny had answered. 

He'd found Danny again, and he was going to keep him. This time, he wasn't letting go. 

So much so that a few years down the road they found themselves in adjoining suites at the Hilton getting ready for their wedding. 

Since they weren't having a honeymoon, their family and friends had insisted that they have the wedding somewhere other than their own back garden. It seemed a little silly to Steve, because what difference did it make if they had the ceremony on the beach at the house or the beach at a hotel? But when their moms had come together to arrange things, they'd gone with the fancier option.

As per Grace's orders, they weren't supposed to see each other beforehand. Their adjoining room doors had been locked and checked by Kono, so they could do little to see what the other was doing right now. 

Steve moved to the door and knocked lightly, calling Danny's name. 

When a voice answered it was close to the door. "Steve? What is it?"

Steve slid down the door to sit pressed up to it, not caring that his suit might get a little wrinkled. "Just wanted to check you're okay."

There was a rustling sound on the other side of the door, then Danny's voice answered, low down, like he'd mirrored Steve's movement. "Were you worried I'd back out or something?"

Steve turned his head closer to the crack between the doors, as if that would make his voice clearer to the other side. "No. But I seem to remember you telling my mother once that you'd never get married again. Yet, here we are."

"I was angry, she was busting my balls about stuff she had no clue about, returning after everyone thought she was dead and I flipped. Trust me; I'm perfectly happy to be marrying you. After this one though, that's it. Never doing it again." 

Steve had been angry too when his mother had returned. It was because of her that he nearly lost Danny, that he did for a while. It was only sheer luck that brought them back together. Steve shook his head of the thoughts and smiled at Danny's last statement. This was it for them. 

"What was it like? Marrying Rachel? The wedding day, I mean…"

"It was hell," Danny said, then took a breath and changed his tack. "No, I don't mean that. That wasn't fair. It was… stressful, nerve-racking, joyous and by later on in the evening… pretty drunken. I think that's how all weddings should be."

"I'm not stressed. Or nervous," Steve said. And it was true, he wasn't. He felt calm, composed. He knew he was doing what he wanted and he knew Danny was happy so what was there to be nervous about? If anything the anxiousness he felt was purely impatience. He wanted to get to it.

"Nothing about you has ever been 'typical' though, Steven."

"Are you nervous?"

"Little bit. I don't want to mess anything up."

"You mean today or…?"

There was silence for a few moments. "Both."

Steve ran his fingers over the wood of the door. "We're going to be fine, partner."

The door to Steve's room rattled and Kono popped her head around the corner. She smiled at Steve's position, sitting with his knees pulled up, heavily leaning on the door and she snapped a picture. 

"What?" She asked, innocently. "Grace said we need to document everything. Come on, we've got to go down the stairs while Grace takes Danny down the elevator."

He could hear muffled sounds from the other side of the door, where Danny was talking to Grace and somehow he knew by the words he'd picked up that she'd taken a photo of Danny in whatever sitting position he'd been in too. No doubt these would be side by side in a photo album later.

There was no walking down the aisle, not in a traditional sense. Instead they came from opposite sides and met in the middle by the officiator. 

Steve took one look at Danny, looking perfect in his similar suit, loose but smart, hair styled perfectly and looking incredible and had muttered to himself, 'finders keepers'.

Because he wanted everyone in the crowd around them to know that he'd been the one to find Danny and now he was officially keeping him. 

Later, they sat side by side, both having had quite a bit to drink. They'd survived the stories and toasts and speeches from embarrassing childhood memories to embarrassing adult memories and now they nursed glasses of champagne and leaned back on their chairs after their plates had been taken away. Their moms had made a point of having a four-course meal at the reception. It was overkill, surely… but it had been a damned good meal. 

Steve's hand reached out and clamped around Danny's wrist, his thumb idly stroking against the skin. "Take your ring off a second," he said. 

Danny looked back at him puzzled. "You want a divorce already?" He joked. 

"Just take it off." Steve reached over and helped him. "I didn't tell you before, but I got it engraved on the inside."

Danny lifted the ring in his hands, letting it catch the light. "Finders… Keepers…" He turned back to Steve. "You said that during the ceremony. And you used variations on 'finding' and 'keeping' in your vows. I'm a detective, I notice these things. You feel like enlightening me now?"

"I've been thinking it since the day we met, and you were sitting there playing with your red fire engine."

Danny smiled and shook his head in exasperation. "So this entire time, our whole lives, you've been playing by the rules of the playground?"

Steve blushed but agreed. "Something like that. I found you. And I'm keeping you. Possession is nine tenths of the law."

"It's a good thing you have me around, because your grasp of the law is pretty terrible." Danny put the ring back on and leaned over the arm of his chair to press his forehead against Steve's. "I love you, you animal."

"I love you, too."

"I tell you what. After all this is done, and we head on up to that nice adjoining suite we've got, you can show me just how much we belong to each other. Whatever you find underneath this fancy suit I'm wearing, is yours to keep, babe."

"Can't argue with playground logic," Steve grinned and pressed his lips to Danny's, filling their kiss with promise. And, okay, possessiveness. But that was just who he was, and Danny loved him for it anyway. 

Because Danny knew that Steve found him years ago, and he was letting Steve keep him.


End file.
